ALDERMEN VENT ANGER ABOUT GIVING CTA A‘ BLANK CHECK’
Chicago aldermen on Monday pushed back hard against the idea of giving the CTA a “blank check” — by raising ride- hailing fees to bankroll $ 180 million in CTA improvements — without more control over CTA finances.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s $ 64.7 million package of tax increases and fee hikes survived an early test vote with two abstentions.
But Monday’s Finance Committee vote gave aldermen a chance to vent their anger about the mayor’s plan to raise ride- hailing fees by 15 cents a ride next year and by another nickel in 2019 and ship the $ 16 million and $ 21 million in annual revenues during each of those years to the CTA.
Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly ( 42nd) noted that the city is facing massive pension liabilities just a few years down the road, and is in no position to fork over a “new perpetual funding stream to a sister agency that isn’t accountable to the Chicago City Council.”
“Once the money goes out the door, the City Council really doesn’t control how that money is going to be spent,” he said.
Reilly also joined Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson ( 11th) in branding as “a bit backwards” the decision to approve the subsidy before the CTA has released its own budget and determined whether it would raise fares for the first time since 2009, cut service for the first time since 2012 or a combination of the two.
Both measures are “on the table” to erase a $ 33 million shortfall, CTA chief of staff Sylvia Garcia told aldermen.
“We’d have a better sense of how this money is spent and why you need this much, vs. a lesser amount if you’re able to find some efficiencies and some dollars in those cushions” if the CTA budget was unveiled first, Reilly said.
Several aldermen questioned what would happen if the Illinois General Assembly approves a state capital program for the first time in eight years.
Although the intergovernmental agreement doesn’t require it, Budget Director Samantha Fields said there would be nothing stopping the city from amending its intergovernmental agreement with the CTA if the need is reduced by an influx of state funding.
Ald. John Arena ( 45th) denounced the per- ride fee as a “straight pass- through to the consumer” that will hit hardest at working people who rely on Uber, Lyft and Via for the last leg of their daily commute.
“We need to get more aggressive in saying, ‘ You’re abusing our infrastructure to benefit your bottom line,” Arena said of Uber, whose investors include Emanuel’s brother.
Even Ald. Joe Moore ( 49th), who called the ridehailing fee an “innovative idea” and a “no- brainer,” agreed that aldermen need more in return for their support than an annual report after- the- fact on how the money was spent.